


You of the Gray

by TheDarkStrategist



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Friendship/Love, Gen, Romantic Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-17
Updated: 2016-04-17
Packaged: 2018-06-02 21:21:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6582871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDarkStrategist/pseuds/TheDarkStrategist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After refusing to side with Nohr or Hoshido, Corrin is plagued by nightmares of her siblings. Unable to sleep, she goes out late one night to train. Azura, sensing something is wrong, goes to check on her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You of the Gray

_"We've loved you since you were a child--"_

_"We're your true family! Why would you--"_

_"Traitor! TRAITOR!"_

Corrin shot up out of bed, her skin slick with sweat, her face wet from tears that must have been flowing down her face while she was sleeping. Her breathing was panicked and erratic and she was having a hard time getting it even. She forced herself to take a few deep breaths.

Corrin wiped at her skin with her blanket and frowned at the dark stains that formed on the cloth. If the blanket was any indicator, the sheets were equally as soaked. She was going to have to ask Jakob to wash them and she did not look forward to giving him an explanation for why she needed them cleaned after he already done so the day before.

She crawled out of the bed and grabbed her Yato as she headed toward the door. She needed to go out for a walk or to go train. Something to get her mind off her nightmare. She knew that she couldn't stay in her room. If she did, she'd end up suffering in silence as she replayed the dream in her head over and over again.

Corrin shivered as she stepped out onto her balcony. The air was cooler than she'd expected it to be. It didn't bother her too much though. She was still burning up so the chill in the air was appreciated. She shimmied down the balcony's ladder and let out a startled gasp when her bare feet hit wet grass. 

It had rained in their Deeprealm today. Somehow, she'd forgotten that.

_Oh well. I've walked through worse bare foot._

Corrin walked until the stores, mess hall, and soldiers' barracks were pinpricks in the distance. She glanced back to see if anyone had follow her. After she saw that no one had, she began practicing sword strikes with Yato, using a tree as a practice dummy.

Sword practice was typically how Corrin cleared her head. She would put all of her focus on her stance and the speed and the strength of her strikes and how to improve. It made all other thoughts fade away.

The problem was that this time it wasn't working. The voices from her nightmare were still buzzing around in her head and their words cut her like a knife. Their volume slowly increased, which prompted Corrin to hit the tree with her sword harder in the hopes that the sound of the strikes would beat out the sound of the voices in her head.

_"Why are you doing this--"_

_Thwack!_

_"Does blood mean nothing to you?"_

_Thwack! Thwack!_

_"You are a traitor!"_

_Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!_

_"This is ALL. YOUR. FAULT!"_

_THWACK!_

_"Corrin!"_

The shout startled Corrin, causing her to lose her grip on her sword. Yato clattered to the ground, making a dull  _thump_ as it hit the dirt.

Corrin turned to see who had shouted. It was Azura, whose face was tense with concern. She stepped forward and bit her lip worriedly.

"Are you ok?"

"I-I...I'm ok..." Corrin choked out, her voice raw, as if she'd been shouting. Her face felt wet. Had she been crying again?

Azura shook her head and pressed a hand to Corrin's cheek, wiping away a tear that had started to roll down it. "Corrin..."

"I...Azura..."

"Corrin, be honest with me. Did you have a nightmare?"

Corrin nodded quietly.

"Was it about your siblings?"

Another nod.

Azura grabbed one of Corrin's hands and sat down on the ground, pulling her friend down with her. Corrin moved without resistance.

"Tell me about it," Azura said, squeezing Corrin's hand encouragingly.

"I was back at the plains where my siblings had their confrontation. Except they weren't fighting. They were all looking at me. Some of them were angry, others were disappointed or sad...They were all asking me why I had betrayed them and I wanted to explain that I  _hadn't_...that I wanted to be with all of them...but when I tried to tell them that my voice would't work. I had to stand there and just take in all their anger, their sadness..." Corrin paused and let out a shaky sigh. "Azura, it hurt  _so_ _much_. I felt like I was being stabbed in the heart..."

Corrin dragged a hand down her face tiredly. "I-I'm sorry. I know this is hard for you too. You've been with the Hoshidan royal family since you were a child. Leaving them to side with me couldn't have been easy." She chuckled humorlessly. "You've got it as bad as I do and here I am dumping all my problems on you. I'm sorry, Azura. I'll just--"

Corrin made a move to stand up and leave but was dragged back down by Azura. She stared at her bewilderedly.

"What are you--?"

"You're not dumping your problems on me.  _I asked_. If you don't want to talk about it anymore, that's fine. You can go back to bed or train. But don't stop talking to me just because you think you're burdening me. You aren't."

"I...thank you, Azura." Corrin sighed. "I just...I just want them to understand that I didn't betray them. That I'm trying to find a path of peace. I want to be able to reconnect with my Hoshidan siblings without having to turn my back on my Nohrian ones." She paused and bit her lip, a grim expression flashing across her face. "And then there's the situation with-- _ow!_ "

Azura squeezed Corrin's hand so hard she felt like the bones would splinter. Corrin scowled at her friend, wondering why she felt the need to break her hand until the reason suddenly dawned on her.

"Sorry," Corrin said. "It slipped my mind. Thank you."

Azura shook her head in disbelief and let out an exasperated sigh. "I want you to know that every time you do that, it cuts ten years off my life. Corrin,  _please_ remember that we can't speak of it here."

"I will," Corrin promised solemnly. She fell silent for a moment and began to worry at her lip again. "On the off chance that I  _do_ slip up--"

"I'll stop you."

"Thank you." 

"You don't need to thank me," Azura assured her. "Is there anything else you need to talk about?"

"I...I think I'm good now," Corrin said. "What about you? How do you feel about all this?"

"I'd be lying if I said that it didn't hurt when Ryoma and the rest of our Hoshidan siblings labeled us as traitors. The pain on their faces..." Azura petered off, a sad, dim light dancing in her eyes. "I understand why they feel betrayed. We attacked their forward commander. To them, it seemed as if we were declaring them the enemy."

Azura ran her thumb gently across Corrin's knuckles. "It pains me to have left them, especially with how things ended. But we have an important task ahead of us and I can not allow my burdened heart to weigh me down."

"But how can you do that? Just soldier on? Doesn't it hurt?"

"Of course it hurts," Azura said softly. "But letting the pain overtake me isn't going to fix anything. There is more going on here than Ryoma and Xander and the others are aware of. For now, we are the only ones who can do anything about it. We just have to trust that we will be able to make them see the truth."

Corrin nodded somberly. "Yeah...Make them see the truth..."

Despite the heavy thoughts still burdening Corrin, she managed to crack a small smile. "Y'know, I admire you, Azura. You're just as hurt as I am yet you're still walking with your head held high. I wish I didn't have such a hard time doing the same thing."

"Heh, I'm used to having to bury my pain, unfortunately."

"Azura..." Corrin began. Before she could finish what she was going to say, a loud yawn escaped from her lips.

Azura giggled. "Seems like someone needs to go to sleep."

Corrin looked as if she was going to deny it when another yawn stopped her in her tracks.

"Ok, maybe a little sleep wouldn't  _hurt_ ," she admitted sheepishly.

Azura chuckled. "I'll let you get to bed then."

Azura went to stand up but was stopped by a sharp tug on her nightgown.

"I, um, don't think I'll be able to sleep alone tonight," Corrin muttered, embarrassed.

Azura grinned at her affectionately and held out a hand. "Alright. Let's have a sleepover then."

"What, really?" Corrin asked, eyes shining brightly. "You don't mind?"

"No. Come on, let's go."

Corrin jumped to her feet, grabbing her sword before grabbing a hold of Azura's hand.

"This is going to be great!" she shouted happily.

Azura laughed--one of the few genuine laughs she'd had in a while--as Corrin excitedly dragged her to her place, talking endlessly about all the fun things they'd do before going to sleep.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to explore Azura/Corrin's dynamic and their feelings towards the Nohrian and Hoshidan siblings at the beginning of Revelations. All in all, I'm happy with where this went.


End file.
